"Discorso Muto” (Silent Speech) EXHIBITION: Works by artists Frank Dituri and Mauro Manetti in Chiusi (Italy)

"Discorso Muto” (Silent Speech) EXHIBITION: Works by artists Frank Dituri and Mauro Manetti at the premises of the Chiusi Cathedral Museum and the "SpazioUlisse" exhibition space in Chiusi City from June 6, 2024.

The Museum of the Cathedral of Chiusi and the Cultural Association SpazioUlisse have joined forces to create an exhibition that will present the works of Frank Dituri and Mauro Manetti, two contemporary artists of international standing. The exhibition will be curated by Massimo Mattioli: art critic and director of ArtsLife magazine. The exhibition will open on June 6, 2024 and will take place in the Museum of the Cathedral of Chiusi and in the SpazioUlisse, a gallery located in via Porsenna 63 in Chiusi, where the SpazioUlisse association regularly organizes its initiatives. The exhibition will last two months, until the end of July 2024, for the works exhibited in the SpazioUlisse, and another 4 months for the works exhibited in the Museum of the Cathedral of Chiusi. The exhibition will present a series of photographic, pictorial and sculptural works, some unpublished, by Frank Dituri and Mauro Manetti, each of the two boasts a long curriculum of solo exhibitions and awards, for some years they have embarked on a common path that leads them around the world to present their works together. Despite having different techniques and artistic languages, the two artists share the same way of exploring the relationships between man, nature and spirituality and of dealing with research on the sacred and figuration that seeks to represent the metaphysical element. The works of the two artists will be exhibited in such a way as to create a reciprocal dialogue, with the environment and with the viewer. The Museum of the Cathedral of Chiusi is divided into an extremely differentiated itinerary, which includes, in addition to the various exhibition sections, also the Bishop's Garden, the Labyrinth of Porsenna and the Catacombs of Santa Mustiola and Santa Caterina. From a first nucleus established in 1932 by the will of the Chapter and the then diocesan bishop Monsignor Giuseppe Conti with the intention of exhibiting the choir books from the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, donated to the Cathedral of Chiusi by Bishop Giuseppe Pannilini in 1810, as well as paintings, sacred vestments and liturgical furnishings of the Cathedral, the increase in the patrimony,  in particular, thanks to the material coming from the excavations of the seventies in the presbyteral area of the Cathedral, it led to the identification of the current museum location in the spaces adjacent to the Cathedral and in the gallery that connects San Secondiano with the four rooms on the first floor of the Bishop's Palace. The garden and the ancient Bishop's Garden, from which you can enjoy a splendid view of the extreme edge of the Val di Chiana, have been an integral part of the museum itinerary since its origins, to which has been added the archaeological itinerary with Etruscan tunnels which, passing under Piazza Carlo Baldini, connect the Bishop's Garden to the Bell Tower. The visit itinerary is completed by the two catacombs of Santa Mustiola and Santa Caterina, located near the historic center, recently restored by the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology.

Spazio Ulisse: is a free and independent exhibition space dedicated to Contemporary Art, born in Chiusi in 2016 from an idea and initiative of Giorgio Giorgini and Simone Nasorri. The space consists of a room in via Porsenna 63 in Chiusi Città with two windows overlooking the main street of the town. Since its inception, 17 exhibitions have been organized with the works of as many Italian and foreign contemporary artists, alternating extremely different and varied artistic genres, techniques and creative styles. To these exhibitions must be added the collaboration with the FAI for the organization and preparation of an exhibition at the Crypt of the Cathedral of Città della Pieve. Since 2022 Spazio Ulisse has also been a registered cultural association and has obtained the patronage of the Municipality of Chiusi on some subsequent exhibitions.

Presentation of the artists:

Frank Dituri: lives between Italy and New York. He is a photographer who likes to transform the obvious into images uncertain, indefinite and mysterious.

He was a member of C. W. Post University on Long Island in New York and currently works in the art department of the Free Academy of Fine Arts in Florence in Italy. Additionally he was a teaching artist for the LTA program at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His artwork is represented by the Fran Kaufman Art Advisory agency in New York. Dituri's work is exhibited globally in fine arts museums and galleries, such as the Biennale of Venice; the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome; House of the Carraresi, Treviso; Palace Museum Fraternity of the Laity, Arezzo; Schema Foundation of Carmignano; C2 Contemporanea 2, Florence; Rocca Roveresca of Senigallia; La Sapienza, University of Rome; Il Diaframma Gallery, Milan; Museum of San Francesco, Montefalco; Ducal Palace of Gubbio; the Hudson River Museum in New York; Art Miami Context of Miami; Shatto Gallery, Los Angeles, California; NYU, East Galleries, New York; C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore; Griffith Gallery, Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas; the Galerie Seine 51 in Paris; The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat-Gan, Jerusalem; the Sirius Aidem Gallery in Tokyo; Galerie Vivant in Tokyo; Museum of Fine Arts, Hualien, Taiwan; Italian Cultural Institute Prague, Czech Republic; Henglu Gallery, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China; Galerie Plastik Hořice, Czech Republic; the Center of Contemporary Art of New Zealand; The MOMA in Moscow; Classic Photography Gallery, Moscow; Menege, St. Petersburg, Russia; Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia; and participated in three performances (Learning Through Art) of Guggenheim Museum in New York. And many other galleries and museums around the world. Dituri's works can be found in important collections, such as that of Pushkin Museum of Fine Art in Moscow; of the Bibliothèque National de France in Paris; of the Alternative Museum of New York; The Lanfranco Colombo Collection, Galleria Il Diaframma, Milan; Hundred Studies Pier Paolo Pasolini, Casarsa, Friuli; Griffith Gallery, Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas; Chung Cheng National Gallery, Taipei; of the Das Städtische Kramer-Museum in Kempen in Germany. His images have been reviewed and featured in prestigious publications international including the New York Times, Harpers Magazine, Zoom Magazine, la Repubblica, and Corriere della Sera Italian newspapers.

Mauro Manetti: born in San Miniato (PI) and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 2000 he founded the LABA (Free Academy of Fine Arts of Florence) which he directed until 2020.

In the same Institute he is currently responsible for cultural events. He lives and works between Empoli and Florence where he is committed to the promotion of art and culture. He made his debut in the artistic field in 1992 with a solo exhibition at the Galleria Continua in San Gimignano (SI) curated by Rita Selvaggio, with the same gallery in the following years he participated in exhibitions and art fairs International. After an initial conceptual phase, his artistic research has become more investigating, the relationship between man and nature, also through the recovery of iconographies Classic. In his works there are references to the medieval art of the great Tuscan primitives; from Cimabue to Deodato Orlandi, from Duccio to Coppo di Marcovaldo, in many of his works he also uses the gold leaf, with explicit references to the art of the icon. His poetics are therefore constantly

aimed at the creation of iconographies that, while being placed in the present day, reflect the matrices of a past still widely present. In recent years he has held exhibitions in public spaces and private individuals in Italy and abroad, including Galleria Continua (Siena), NCTU Gallery (Taiwan), Unimediamodern (Genoa), Campoblu (Milan), Margaret Harvey Gallery (England), Primopiano Gallery (Brescia), Galerie Plastik (Czech Republic), Smolny Cathedral Gallery (Russia), Griffith Gallery (Texas), U Chiba Gallery (Japan), Culturel Centrum Het Spoor (Netherlands), Centre d'Esposition de la Gare (Canada), Leonardi V Idea (Genoa), Palazzo Cuttica (Alessandria), Eumeria B (Tokyo), Hanzou Gallery (China), Museum of Ceramics (Montelupo Fiorentino), M.E. Projet Room Milano, Votre Spazi Carrara, Centro Arte Contemporanea Umbertide (PG), Museum Senigallia (PU), Angelina College (Texas), Bevilacqua la Masa Foundation Venice, Villa di Poggio Reale Rufina (FI), Casa degli Artisti Milan, Palazzo Pretorio Gubbio, House dei Carraresi (TV). His works are present in public and private collections and there are many texts critics appeared in magazines and catalogues dedicated to his work. In 2015 he opened in Empoli (FI) the Filarete Art Studio exhibition space, currently producing about thirty exhibitions and many dedicated events to poetry and music.